Puck Pieterse has claimed the world title in Cross-Country Mountain Biking. The Dutch rider took the lead early in the race and rode confidently to secure the first-ever world title for the Netherlands. Anne Terpstra made it a double Dutch celebration by taking silver. The bronze went to Italian Martina Berta. In the men’s race, the surprising Alan Hatherly from South Africa won gold, finishing ahead of Victor Koretzky (France) and the disappointing defending champion Tom Pidcock (Great Britain). The course in Andorra was challenging: five laps of () kilometers, with four tough climbs along the way. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot wanted to continue her success from the Olympic Games and was the top favorite going in, especially since this would be her last day in mountain biking. Pieterse, on the other hand, was out for revenge: the Dutch rider suffered a puncture at the worst moment in Paris, costing her a medal.
Right from the start, Pieterse took the lead. The Dutch rider took off and clearly wanted to test the field from the beginning. Ferrand-Prévot had a rather slow start and had to chase from behind. Pieterse immediately created a gap, accompanied only by Swiss rider Alessandra Keller and South African Candice Lill. But the Dutch daredevil was not satisfied with that: she accelerated again and crossed the start-finish line solo after the first lap. Meanwhile, there was drama for Evie Richards: the British rider, who had won the short-track race on Friday, crashed hard after ten minutes. She was able to get back on her bike, though.
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Ferrand-Prévot charges towards Pieterse and then collapses
In the second lap, the field started to come back together a bit. Lill rejoined Pieterse, but Ferrand-Prévot also kicked her afterburners into gear. From tenth place, she rode up to the two leaders in just a few minutes. The Frenchwoman seemed to be incredibly strong again but then suddenly lost a lot of time on the course. She lost the wheel of the two women ahead of her and fell back to the chasers. Her rival, Pieterse, was especially fearless on the descents, where she consistently gained time on her competitors.
As a result, the rider from Amersfoort gained more than half a minute on her biggest competitor. Lill stayed with her for a long time but had to let Pieterse go halfway through the race. Behind them, Ferrand-Prévot collapsed, making it certain she would not win in her last mountain biking race. Meanwhile, Anne Terpstra passed her and her compatriot moved up in the standings and was fully in the race for the medals.
Pieterse sovereigns to the Rainbow Jersey, Terpstra fabulous to silver medal
Pieterse was flying. The 22-year-old was gradually pulling away from her South African competitor. Together, they were the only ones still in contention for the world title: after three laps, Terpstra, along with Loana Lecomte of France and Berta of Italy, were over a minute behind. Meanwhile, Lill lost more than half a minute to Pieterse. To make matters worse, she fell just before the technical zone, allowing the advancing Terpstra to catch sight of her.
With one lap to go, Pieterse was in the driver's seat. With more than a minute's lead, the margin for the winner of the fourth stage of the Tour de France Femmes was enormous. Terpstra then pulled away from Lill early in the final lap. The South African was exhausted and couldn’t keep up with the unleashed Dutchwoman. Pieterse crossed the finish line with the red, white, and blue flag draped over her shoulders, cheering. Terpstra also had time to celebrate her silver medal. Behind the Dutch women, Berta finished third, overtaking Lill.
In the men’s race, defending champion Pidcock started characteristically slowly. After one lap, the Brit was in 20th place. It was the Frenchman Koretzky, the runner-up at the Olympics behind Pidcock, who took the lead. After fifteen minutes, he was in front, pulling away with only the Brit Charlie Aldridge alongside, who seemed to be more of a hindrance. Meanwhile, Pidcock was making a comeback, as we have come to expect from him.
After two laps, the two-time Olympic champion had moved closer. He was in ninth place, with the leaders in sight. The leaders, consisting of Aldridge, Koretzky, and the South African Hatherly, were losing seconds to the strong-looking Pidcock. Halfway through the race, he managed to catch up. This immediately prompted an acceleration from Hatherly, who tried to increase the pressure on the returning Brit. Koretzky followed, and Pidcock had to close the gap again with his teammate Aldridge.
Pidcock lacks the legs, Hatherly grabs gold
It was a struggle. In fact, "The Tominator" lost his teammate’s wheel, who also couldn’t close in on the two riders up front. The defending champion was having a tough time, and with one lap to go, he needed to make up a 13-second deficit. Hatherly kept the pace high, and his French companion stayed in his wheel until the last lap. The Frenchman took the lead with a strong acceleration, but the South African was able to respond: they fought a fantastic battle.
On the longest climb of the day, Koretzky pushed hard once again, but Hatherly impressively stayed with him. Pidcock clearly didn’t have the legs to catch up, so the winner would be one of the front two. Up front, Hatherly took over again from his rival and opened a gap. In the final lap, he clearly had the best legs and rode away from the 30-year-old Frenchman. He crossed the finish line solo, giving us, just like in the women's race, a first: a South African had never won the world title before. For Koretzky, second place was once again the best he could achieve. Pidcock finished third at a respectful distance.
